The White House will host an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event next year as part of the July 4 celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
UFC boss Dana White, who has a long-standing friendship with US president Donald Trump, confirmed the blockbuster news earlier this week.
White will meet with Trump and his daughter Ivanka at the end of August to finalise plans. The event is guaranteed to generate massive interest in the betting industry.
The sportsbook attached to casino crypto Betpanda offers a wide range of UFC markets, and will likely be inundated with wagers when the final line-up is confirmed.
Trump mentioned the idea of hosting a fight at the White House last month and subsequently contacted the UFC boss to put the wheels in motion.
“When he called me and asked me to do it, he said: ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,'” White said (h/t the BBC).
“So Ivanka reached out to me, and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and, you know, I put together all the renderings.”
The UFC’s iconic octagon will be built on the South Lawn of the White House, creating a stunning backdrop for the 250th anniversary celebrations of the US.
The timing of the news will delight bosses at Paramount Television Studios, who recently agreed a seven-year deal worth $7.7 billion to secure the broadcast rights for UFC events.
The UFC’s $550 million a year deal with ESPN recently ended and White had considered splitting coverage across several different broadcasters.
The NBA and NFL have taken that approach with their respective broadcast deals, but White ultimately decided not to follow in their footsteps.
“Last minute, these guys came in and said, ‘You know what? – we don’t want to share, we want it all,’” White said. “What I do love about the deal is that the product is much more affordable for everybody.”
While White is understandably bullish about the latest developments in the UFC, questions have been raised about his obsession with maintaining strong ties with Trump.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is often pigeon-holed as a sport for American rednecks, yet the global community is far more diverse and inclusive than many people realise.
While Trump espouses his ‘America First’ ideology, the global UFC landscape does not necessarily conform to that mantra.
As noted by respected American writer Beau Dure, only one of the current 11 UFC champions is American. Intriguingly, she is also female.
White once insisted that the UFC would exclude women, but Kayla Harrison has overcome the obstacles placed in her way to become the women’s bantamweight champion.
As evidenced by his shift in attitudes towards female fighters, Dure believes that White is shrewd enough to recognise that publicly aligning with Trump may not be a solid long-term plan.
“The fight game tends to be cyclical, driven by big personalities like (Ronda) Rousey, Jon Jones and Conor McGregor, all of whom have either left the sport or gone through a prolonged period of inactivity,” Dure told the Guardian.
“It’s tough to imagine current light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev reaching the level of fame of Forrest Griffin, Rampage Jackson or Chuck Liddell.
“While we can’t really quantify the impact of the Trump lovefest on the UFC’s popularity, the organisation clearly can’t afford to alienate the 60 percent or so of the population that disapproves of Trump’s presidency thus far.”
